RateTheRef

Which leaves -

19.    Everybody loves a man with a name of some convenience
Everybody certainly loves Raymond but it was not Lowestoft or Ray Johnson.
Think USA and then a tenuous link between the surname and a convenience!

25.    Nuts in 18, and that’s the short of it
18 is certainly Kirkpatrick, try shortening that and see what you come up with.

27.    Tall stories from both sides of the Thames (2 referees leading to one answer)
my dad used to tell me stories that I now know were complete tosh, and they could be called............?

28.    Oh  *@#*, I thought I ordered red ones for the extension, not yellow
one of the easier ones I think. Read the whole clue through. you were on the right lines but not Rob / Keith Stiles